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Bold Love - Ruth 3

By Mike Osborne | May 21, 2007

Intro: 2 people who desperately needed love but didn’t find it.
● Man who died watching TV and no one missed him for a year.
● Anna Nicole Smith

Today we’re going to read a story of 3 people who desperately needed love, and found it. And it wasn’t just your ordinary, garden-variety kind of love; it was bold love… non-judgmental, unconditional, unexpected love…the kind of love God has for us, and the kind of love we can have for other people.

Before reading the text:
● Summarize Ruth 1-2
o Chapter 1
 Naomi & Elimelech & 2 sons Mahlon & Kilion – Bethlehem
 Famine, trip to Moab
 Wives for the 2 sons: Ruth (Mahlon), Orpah (Kilion)
 All 3 men die in Moab
 Naomi returns to Bethlehem – Orpah stays behind, Ruth follows
 Ruth lives with Naomi & cares for her
o Chapter 2
 Ruth meets Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s dead husband Elimelech, while gleaning in his fields
 Ruth’s love for Naomi has preceded her; Boaz has already heard about how Ruth has taken care of her mother-in-law
 Boaz tells Ruth to stay in his fields, and provides for her needs
 Ruth goes home and tells Naomi that she’s met Boaz
 Ruth continues to care for Naomi

● Ruth 3 – someone could easily misread it as:
o A story about a matronly matchmaker
o A stunning seductress
o A prosperous playboy

Naomi (vss. 1-4)

I want you to notice how BOLD Naomi is in these verses.

She wants to find Ruth 2 things: a home and a husband.
● “Ruth, I want you to wash up, put on some Jennifer Lopez fragrance, wear something pretty, and go down to where Boaz will be at the end of the day, down at his threshing floor. Don’t let anyone see you. Wait until Boaz has had his fill of food and wine, and follow him to wherever he lies down to sleep. Then, when you’re sure he’s asleep, go uncover his feet and lie down next to him. That’s all you have to do.”
● Naomi obviously has an agenda. She wants Ruth to send a very clear message to Boaz that she wants him to marry her.
● The purpose being, so Ruth would be happy and have a future to look forward to.

Now this is quite a turn-around for Naomi. She’s thinking about somebody else for a change.
● Do you remember in Chap. 1 Naomi was ready to give up on life?
● “Don’t call me Naomi” (Naomi means sweet, pleasant) – “call me Mara, bitter.” (1:20)
● “I went away full, but God has brought me back empty.” (1:21)
● Why the turnaround? You’ll find out in just a little while.
● For now, let’s call this an example of BOLD LOVE.

Ruth (vss. 5-9)

If Naomi was bold, Ruth was bolder!

Ruth does what Naomi tells her to, and then some.
● She goes down to the threshing floor. Now this was a very risky thing to do! Threshing floors in the days of the OT were disreputable; they were sometimes places of sexual immorality. Respectable women didn’t spend time there. It’s where the men worked.
● And if someone saw what Ruth was doing, they might conclude that she was a loose woman, making a move on Boaz.
● Plus, she doesn’t know how Boaz is going to react. He might take advantage of her. He might think she’s a fool. He might call the cops on her. Who knows what Boaz will do?
● So Ruth is smart. She hides from view, and waits until Boaz had eaten and fallen asleep at the far end of the grain pile.
● She creeps up, uncovers his feet & lies down next to him.
● At midnight, Boaz awakens to see Ruth next to him! “Who are you?”
● “I am Ruth. Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are my kinsman-redeemer.”

That is a proposal of marriage!
● See, even though Ruth is a Gentile, she knew about the Jewish custom of levirate marriage (levir is Latin for “brother-in-law”). It’s spelled out in Deut. 25. It was the custom whereby if a husband died, leaving no descendants, the brother of the deceased husband had to marry his widow and have a child, to carry on the name of the deceased.
● She also knew the law of the kinsman-redeemer (vs. 9). You’ll find out more about that next week. It’s in Lev. 25. Basically it meant that family members were supposed to take care of each other. If someone fell into poverty and sold himself into slavery, or sold a piece of land to get out of debt, one of his relatives was supposed to redeem the person (buy him out of his slavery) – or redeem the land (buy the land back for him).
● But for now, just think of the risk Ruth was running here. Boaz could completely misconstrue her motives. He could conclude that she’s after his money.

So why did Ruth do it?
● We read this story from our vantage point as 21st century Americans.
o We live in a culture where people have been raised on “Sex & the City” and “Desperate Housewives” and “The Bachelorette” instead of the Bible.
● Illus.: Maybe Ruth is like Anna Nicole Smith marrying billionaire J. Howard Marshall. She was 26, he was 89.
● So we figure, Ruth wants a man! He’s single, he’s rich, he’s a man of prestige and power. What eligible young woman wouldn’t want this guy?!

But that’s not it at all.
● Ruth’s primary motive here is love for Naomi.
● In our culture, marriage usually starts off with physical attraction and romance. It hasn’t always been that way. It’s not that way now in many cultures.
● For Naomi and Ruth, marriage was a practical necessity. Look, it was very hard to be a widow in OT Israel. Naomi was poor. Elimelech had no life insurance; he left no estate. There was no welfare or Social Security. The famine that had hit Bethlehem wiped Naomi out financially. She had no brothers or sisters around to take her in. Ruth had to pick up leftover sheaves of grain for them to have any food to eat.
● Do you understand what having no husband and no sons meant to Naomi? Having children to carry on your name was critical. It was your legacy. It was worth far more than passing down an IRA or stocks & bonds or a farmhouse in the country.
● Pro. 22:1 – “A good name is more desirable than great riches.”
● Family was everything to these people.
● So Ruth’s request for marriage is another example of BOLD LOVE.

Boaz (vss. 10-18)

Boaz is bold too!

Boaz does several things:

● First he blesses Ruth (vs. 10). He even calls her respectfully, “my daughter.” I’ll have more to say about that in a minute.
● Then he promises her, “I will do for you all you ask” (vs. 11).
● And next he compliments her as “a woman of noble character.”
● Then he drops the bomb. He explains that there is a kinsman-redeemer closer to Naomi & Ruth than he (vs. 12).
● So Boaz cannot spread the corner of his garment over Ruth yet.
● But, he promises that he will talk to that other kinsman-redeemer the next day. If that man refuses his right to marry Ruth, Boaz says, “As surely as the Lord lives I will do it” (vs. 13).
● And then, the next morning, he gives her 88 lbs. of barley and sends her on her way (vs. 15).

I want you to think about something: Boaz didn’t have to do all this for Ruth. He was not Ruth’s brother-in-law. He wasn’t even Naomi’s nearest of kin. He could have sent Ruth away. He could have accused her of trying to seduce him, of using him for her own selfish gain. But he didn’t. He voluntarily accepted the role of kinsman-redeemer.

And you know what else is bold about Boaz? When he had the chance, he didn’t take advantage of Ruth.
● Men, put yourself in Boaz’s shoes. You’re a bachelor. You’re in your middle-age years. You’ve got a good life…lots of money, lots of privileges, lots of people working for you. You wake up in the middle of the night and find yourself lying beside a woman half your age. She’s single. She’s desperate. She appears to be throwing herself at you. She acts like she wants you.
● What are you going to do?
● You do what men are supposed to do: you do something bold. You control yourself, because you love her too much to take advantage of her sexually.

Can I talk to the young people in the audience today?
● You young guys, do you know what makes you a man? Being bold like Boaz. Honoring women and honoring yourself enough to control your sexual impulses. You wait for sex until God brings you a wife. That’s real boldness. That’s real manhood.
● Young women, do you know what makes you a woman? Being bold like Ruth. Self-control. Modesty. Saving your sexuality for one man in the confines of marriage. Did you notice what Boaz complimented Ruth for in vs. 10? “You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.” Can that be said of you, ladies? Boaz calls Ruth “a woman of noble character” (vs. 11). Make that your goal, and you’ll attract the right kind of man.

So, what do all three of these people have in common: BOLD LOVE: love that is unexpected, unconditional, sacrificial, and non-judgmental.
● Naomi has bold love for Ruth; she wants her to have a home and a husband, even if that means Naomi must spend the rest of her life alone.
● Ruth has bold love for Naomi; she wants her to have a name, even if that means risking the rejection of Boaz.
● Boaz has bold love for Ruth; he wants to be her kinsman-redeemer, even if that means giving up his independence and taking on the obligations of a husband and father.

A life principle

I want to give you a life principle that ties all 3 of these people together:

There is a direct correlation between the love you’ve experienced and the love you’re able to express.

● The more you see love, and feel loved, and witness love, the more likely it is that you will be able to love others.
● We know this is true from our own family backgrounds (loving home, broken home, etc.)
I submit to you that Naomi, and Ruth, and Boaz had all experienced bold love, and so were able to love each other boldly.

Let me show you why I say that.

● Naomi – she had experienced Ruth’s bold love in Chapter 1.

o Remember? Ruth had the chance to leave her, and she didn’t. She said, “Where you go, I’ll go; where you stay, I’ll stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.”
o Ruth’s sacrificial, selfless, unconditional love turned Naomi from bitter to sweet and enabled her to love boldly.
o Love experienced became love expressed.

● What about Boaz? – he experienced Ruth’s bold love, too.

o What do I mean by that? Look at vs. 10 again – “The Lord bless you, my daughter. This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.”
o Boaz is saying that he’s witnessed love twice now. The first time was back in Chapter 2, when Boaz first met Ruth and told her he knew all about what she’d done for Naomi.
o Now, in Chapter 3, Boaz sees Ruth’s love for Naomi once again. Instead of chasing after the younger men, Ruth is asking Boaz to marry her. And Boaz knows why.
o Boaz knows that Ruth is not after him for his money or his lands or his prestige; she’s after him out of love for Naomi.
o And seeing that sacrificial, non-judgmental, unconditional love of Ruth for Naomi melts Boaz’s heart, and he says “Yes, I will do it, Ruth; I will marry you.”
o Love experienced became love expressed.

● And then of course, there’s Ruth. She had experienced bold love, too.
o How so?

Look back at 2:11-12.

That’s a very interesting phrase, “under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

● God is pictured as having wings.
● That’s an image that appears again and again in the Bible.
o Psalm 91:1, 4 – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.”
o Psalm 36:7 – “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
o Ezekiel 16:8 – “When I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment (lit., wings) over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.”

● Does that last verse look familiar? Look again at 3:9 – “Spread the corner of your garment (lit., wings) over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer.”
● Ruth had taken refuge under the shadow of the Almighty. She was a Moabite – a member of a despised people-group…someone with a disgraceful family tree…but she had experienced the non-judgmental, unconditional, sacrificial love of God.
● That’s why she could love Naomi selflessly.

I’ll say it again: There is a direct correlation between the love you’ve experienced and the love you express.

What are you going to do with this message today?

If you will let yourself be boldly loved by God, you will find it amazingly possible to boldly love others.
● You can’t love others with a love you don’t have.
● You can’t be a good husband/wife/parent/child/friend until you understand how much God loves you.
● 1 John 4:19 – “We love because He first loved us.”

So what does this mean practically?

For the Christian:
● Spend a lot of your time thinking about the cross.
● (Explain meaning of our cross.)
● At the cross, Jesus became your kinsman-redeemer. He spread His garment over you. He entered into a covenant with you.

For the non-Christian:
● Go to the one person who will not judge you, or condemn you, or reject you, or abuse you: Jesus Christ.
● Ask Him to be your kinsman-Redeemer.
● Ask Him to spread the corner of His robe over you.

Conclusion: Story from Ray Cortese

A manager with Yahoo got some training and found out he needed to treat his employees differently.
● Went to the people who reported to him, to express appreciation for the job they were doing.
● Soon thereafter, one of them came to him with a gift…an X-Box game console.
● The employee’s name was Lenny.
● He’d actually had a terrible year…taken a cut in pay, had lost his mother, struggling with depression
● With the gift was a note: “I started a routine every night after work: eating a bowl of Ramin, listening to Nirvana, and getting the gun out. It took almost a month to get up the courage to put the bullets in the gun. It took another couple of months to get used to feeling the barrel of the gun in my mouth. For the last few weeks I was putting ever so slight pressure on the trigger, and I was getting so close. Last week you freaked me out. You came into my cubicle and put your arm around me and told me you appreciated me because I turn in all my projects early. You also said I have a great sense of humor, and that you’re glad I came into your life. That night I went home and ate Ramin and listened to Nirvana. And when I got the gun out it scared me silly for the first time. All I could think about was what you said, that you were glad I came into your life. The next day I went back to the pawn shop and sold the gun. I remembered that you had said you wanted an X-Box more than anything, but with a new baby you couldn’t afford it. So for my life, you get this game. Thanks, boss.”
● If the love of a boss can mean that much, how much more would it mean to know that the God of the universe loves you so much He nailed His own Son on the cross and spread His wings over you?
● God’s love for you is bold, my friend. Take it. It’s free. It’s non-judgmental. It’s unconditional.

Come, ye sinner, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, joined with power.
He is able; he is able; he is willing, doubt no more.

Topics: Ruth |

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